Boys Gone Wild Character Analysis

Boys Gone Wild: What Happens When Order is Ignored

You crash-land on an island. No civilization. No law. No order. What do you do? Well, for a group of young boys, they start reverting back into primitive nature. One boy, by the name Jack Merridew, starts devolving quicker than the others. He starts craving blood and lusting to kill. He even smears clay his on face to help camouflage himself to help hunt. Even though most of the boys start trying to develop society, a few, like Jack, start wanting to kill. Imagery also shows how the boys start back tracking into their ancient primitive nature. The boys even get aggressive, violent even, when playing with each other. Characterization also comes into play. Boys that seem to be more evil or tainted nature are seen to descend faster than boys with a good nature. You see, unless society and rules are set in place, people can start to default to a primitive nature.

There is one major archetype shown throughout the novel. That archetype is "The Fall." The

As said before, Jack was unusually quick to turn to animalistic behavior. This could be because of his already assertive, dominant, and almost dark behavior. The way that Jack controls the choir boys shows that he is very controlling. "Choir! Stand still!" (Golding 17). After shouting this, the boys immediately stand still. It can be assumed that the boys are used to Jack 's way. After the boys split into the large group that follows Jack and the small group that follows Ralph, Jack leads like tyrant. He ties up a boy named Wilfred for seemingly no reason. On the other side of the spectrum, boys that seem to have a pure soul barely devolve if at all. Take, for example, Simon. After his untimely death, it is said that "The water rose farther and dressed Simon 's coarse hair with brightness." With light being a symbol for goodness, and the fact that Simon barely even devolved, it can be inferred that Simon had a pure